Heroes save toddler from sunken car
"I needed to get my baby out and I just undid my seatbelt, opened my door and got out of the car.
"I went to go open my baby's door and couldn't get it opened so I started panicking. And then these dudes came running across the water and were so good to me."
The car was half-submerged in the high tide when the men broke the glass and bent the pillar of the window frame down so Mr Griffin could swim under and free the toddler, whose head was only 20cm above the water.
He then cuddled Mikaylah, who was unharmed, and took her back to the shore. She was then wrapped in Mr Hughes' outdoor coat.
They also comforted the traumatised mother - who had a sore foot, torn ligaments in her shoulder and back and a bump on her head - and kept her warm with a polar fleece jumper until emergency services arrived.
"[The baby] was quite fine. She was more distressed from the mother screaming, 'My baby'," Mr Griffin said.
"When I hugged her and spoke to her, she was fine.
Man facing DUI charge had girlfriend, toddler in van
As the van weaved down North Dale Mabry Highway late Thursday, 17-year-old Indy Morgan said she yelled at her boyfriend, who was behind the wheel. Her 21-month-old son was also in the van.
"I was yelling at him, but he wouldn't stop," Morgan said. "It was nerve-wracking. My little boy, Carlos, was in the car, and we didn't have a car seat."
Shortly before midnight, deputies spotted the van, driven by Alberto Gerardo Donates, 28, of 8434 Camden St.
Donates was "operating the vehicle erratically," according to a Hillsborough sheriff's office report. He was driving "at inconsistent speed, leaving the lane of travel, nearly colliding with other vehicles."
When he was finally pulled over by deputies at a parking lot near Dale Mabry and Hudson Lane, Donates "emitted a heavy odor of alcoholic beverage from his breath, had unsteady balance, slurred speech and watery eyes," according to the report.
Donates failed a field sobriety test and, after being arrested, told deputies he had been drinking. Deputies said Donates had a blood alcohol content of 0.248 and 0.243 – more than three times the legal limit. Under Florida law, a driver registering 0.08 is considered impaired.
